Thanks for your post.

First of all, I just want to say that it's very unfortunate that your niece's 3rd grade teacher failed to do her job properly. A child's education shouldn't suffer because of inappropriate behavior by a teacher. The school district definitely dropped the ball there.

My wife is an educator. She currently teaches third grade, so I was interested in what she had to say about this article. Since she recently graduated with a Bachelor's in Science in Elementary Education and had many courses dealing with teaching methods, we've had many conversations about this subject.

When you and I look at a math problem, we see it a certain way because of how we were taught to deal with the problem. This is usually a simple algorithm that we were taught to apply to numbers that works every time. Therefore we see this as the way it should be done because it's fast and efficient. However, it doesn't really tell us why we're doing it. (Think about borrowing in subtraction or writing a number above another number in double digit subtraction. You know it works, but have you ever considered why it works?)

Common Core is simply a different system by which children are taught to approach the same sets of problems, except with a focus on the "why." For what we consider "simple" math problems like multiplication tables and addition, the methods seem a bit silly. However, when viewed in the context of much harder problems, they begin to make more sense.

I'll refer you to this video. I encourage you to watch it with an open mind. There are a lot of people in the comments of this video who agree very strongly with you that the methods are silly, however, in my opinion he does a great job of explaining the concepts behind why it's taught the way it is. This helps more children be able to understand the "why" behind math, as well as develop mental math strategies for solving more difficult problems down the road. They can also better understand concepts like "place value" this way.

The best analogy I can come up with to explain the importance of understanding the "why" in math is calculus. For anyone who has ever taken calculus, you know that there are shortcut methods for solving problems (specifically when taking derivatives and performing differentiation). However, anyone who has ever learned calculus can tell you why you're able to take the shortcuts, because you first learn the "why" (i.e. limit definition of derivative, area under a curve). Similarly, Common Core is a foundational method of teaching that builds over time.

In your situation, I do agree with you that your niece learning math via the new Common Core standards is a roadblock in you being able to help her. That's where most of the complaints are. Parents and relatives who attempt to help children with their math simply cannot because it's a different system, so in this regard, perhaps the new standards do leave something to be desired. However, I would encourage you not to be quick to dismiss the methods of teaching simply because they are new and different. Many children are able to learn math more effectively this way when they can visualize the "why," so this actually may lead to higher graduation rates.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I just wanted to lay it out from a teacher's (husband's) perspective because I know how hard my wife works to make sure that all of her students understand math concepts so that they can succeed in future grades.

I sincerely hope that your niece is able to succeed. If you need any further direction for how to better help her, please let me know. I'm sure my wife can provide some digital resources that could help your situation!

@tippy vote
@originalworks